An urban oasis.

The Madison Square Park Conservancy (MSPC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the upkeep and promotion of Madison Square Park. The Conservancy raises funds that support horticulture, maintenance, security, and a variety of free cultural programs.

Improving the landscape.

The MSPC decided to redesign their website to better promote the diverse programming at the park, increase online donations, and improve the park’s overall visibility. SD recommended comprehensive design and structural updates to meet these objectives.

It’s our nature.

To help MSPC draw attention to park programming, we created multiple places on the website for touting events. The park’s four types of programming are each represented in the main navigation. Users can find information on individual events in the calendar, and select events are featured in the mantle on the Home page.

Site-wide structural improvements address overall functionality and content management.  We transitioned their site to WordPress, a platform with robust capabilities. MSPC can now add multimedia content easily through WordPress’ WYSIWYG editor and organize information through categories and tags. Custom fields and menus in the back-end allow MSPC to manage specific content without having to manipulate HTML or PHP code. Even the slideshows and interactive map can be updated through this user-friendly interface.

Our design team particularly enjoyed developing the visual elements. We capitalized on the vibrant colors associated with MSPC’s brand and used them to convey a sense of fun, whimsy and energy. We increased the amount of photography on the site to help MSPC showcase events and to emphasize the park’s unique features.

A public space.

MSPC has really capitalized on the features of their new site; they are keeping content fresh and giving people a reason to return. We hope our contributions to this project will bring them lots of traffic, both online and on foot.

Winner of 2011 American Graphic Design Award from GD USA